In War and In Love
by TealLife
Summary: The story of what it's like to fall in love in the middle of a war. Follow the story of the Marauders and their female counterparts through each of their points of view as they go through their last two years of Hogwarts and also get a look into a few Slytherin minds. May contain a few adult themes, though nothing TOO extreme.
1. Introduction: Lily

**Hello, I am TealLife. This story has been haunting me as I am a wee bit obsessed with the Marauders Era and the idea of my character Alicia, who you will meet in this first chapter. So please enjoy. Oh and Alicia is pronounced A-Lee-c-uh. Anyway please enjoy this chapter.  
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**Disclaimer: J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter, I do not.  
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***Lily* **

I was walking-or trying to, really- through the crowded Platform 9 and 3/4, grumbling under my breath the whole time. Of course I was excited to be going back to Hogwarts for my sixth year, but the ride to Kind's Cross had been miserable. Why did they make Petunia come along to drop me off anyway? It was obvious that she detested being in the same room as me let alone the small space of the backseat of a car. Besides, she was supposed to be busy planning her wedding to that awful Dursley guy, not glaring at me for even _daring _to go to school.

That was the past though. True it had been the present only fifteen minutes ago, but that was exactly the point-it was fifteen minutes _ago_. This was now, where I was pushing my trolley that held my trunk and my barn owl, Circe through the very crowded platform so I could get on the Hogwarts Express where it would take me to Hogwarts for my second to last year. It was there that I would finally feel safe and comfortable in my own skin. I was impatient.

While I pushed and shoved (it was tradition for everyone to do so really) my way through to the doors of the train, I looked around for a familiar face. Despite fitting in the same as everyone here did, I was still a muggle-born, and I wasn't looking for a fight this early in the year. That's why it would be best to find my best friend Alicia White, who was not only a fellow Gryffindor, but a pureblooded witch who could scare many people shitless. It would also be nice to find my other best friends Alice Peeks and Diana MacDougal, but Alice was known for being a little too nice and Diana for using too many unknown and untested spells. Ideally, however, I would have all three with me; separately we were all clever witches who could hold our own in a fight, yes, but together we were a force to be reckoned with. Even the Slytherins didn't like taking all of us head on. Besides, I wanted to make sure they were all okay. With this war...

Finally, I found my way on to the train, but there was still no sign of any of my friends. Grumbling more, I took my trunk and Circe, and headed off to find a compartment. I was about half way to the back of the train when someone grabbed me by the upper arm and threw me into a compartment where I was caught by more arms. Right after me came my trunk and Circe, who was hooting quite indigently, and then I was thrown to my feet once more where I pulled out my wand and spun around to point it at my kidnapper.

"Sorry about that, love, I didn't mean to scare you, but- actually yeah, I did mean to scare you." Alicia spoke with a grin, using a fake British accent in the beginning before switching over to her natural American one. I slowly lowered my wand after a moment, staring at Alicia's bright grin.

"Of course you did." I said slowly, shaking my head, before giving a giggle. I was really happy to see her.

Alicia hadn't changed much from the last time I saw her, though she was a bit more tan than last year. She was still breathtakingly beautiful, though. Anyone who had ever set eyes on Alicia could easily say that she was the prettiest girl they had ever or will ever have met. I always joked that she was the main cause of model and actress suicides to which she would roll her turquoise eyes and throw back her waist length inky black hair. It was true though, Alicia really did have all the qualities a model could ever want. She was a tall 5'7", though Alicia claimed this was much too tall, she had the perfect hourglass body with the proportions 36-24-34, to which Alicia said her waist was too skinny, and a lovely heartshapped face with elegant cheekbones and nice full lips, even Alicia couldn't complain about this. I remember being extremely jealous when I had first met Alicia and had not yet become her friend. What girl wouldn't? Alicia could make self esteems drop just by being in the room. Not to mention the fact that she is originally from the United States of America, having moved to Britain at the age of eight so her and her siblings could go to Hogwarts like the rest of her pureblood obsessed Slytherins. It meant she had an accent, though Alicia stubbornly retorted that _she _is not the one with the accent, but rather everyone _else _has one. It was just like her to say something like that.

"Aren't you going to say hi to us Lily?" Alice's voice called my attention away from Alicia and onto her and Katherine who were both grinning at me excitedly.

"Aly! Di!" I cried out happily, giving the both of them a hug.

Alice was as tiny as the last time I saw her. She could have been a pixie, minus the wings, rather than a witch. Alice had cut her brown hair since the last time I saw her. Where it had once reached her hips it now settled at her shoulders. This was quite a surprise seeing as Alice had always claimed that short hair was unfeminine and refused to cut it when unnecessary. It looked good though as she looked much less drowned and had gotten it layered so she now had bangs which really brought out her brown eyes and framed her round face nicely. She is also very pretty of course and she always carried around an aura of happiness. It is very unusual to see Alice without a smile on her face.

Diana was looking just as unusual as usual, if that makes sense. Her blonde hair was messy with singe marks in it so appeared very straggly and one of her pale eyebrows had been singed off. Her eyes were a silvery blue and slightly protuberant making her look inescapably surprised. This did not mean that she was not pretty, it was just a very unique sort of attractiveness. I could tell based on her appearance, however, that she had once again been experimenting with spells again. I always tried to tell her how dangerous this was, but she never heard a word of it, always saying that she was "almost there!" or "I've nearly got it!" She was very good at what she did though. Diana was always coming up with new spells to help us out of tricky situations the same way she got us into them.

"Oh Di. What were you trying to do this time?" I asked looking at her with fierce amusement and fondness in my belly as I pulled out my wand to grow back her eyebrow. She blushed at my words.

"Well, I had this really big black head right above my eyebrow, so..." Diana trailed off right as I finished growing back her eyebrow, putting my wand away again.

"So you tried a spell you created and ended up singing your eyebrow off." I finished her sentence, shaking my head. Well, she was creative.

"But look Lily! It worked! No pimple!" Diana said excitedly pointing at her forehead and as I looked all I found was clear, unblemished, pale skin. I had to admit it was impressive.

"And what would you have done if it caused your first acne issue in years to spread over the rest of your face? Or worse, _blew up _your face? Hmm?" Before Diana could answer me though, Alice cut in.

"Oh don't be such a ninny Lily! Hey! That almost rhymed!" Alice said giggling to herself causing us all to smile at her bubbly attitude. After words we spent the rest of our times filling each other in on what we did over the summer.

Alicia had gone back to California by herself for the summer, which explained her new tan, and talked of how nice it was to be rid of her family and especially her older sister, Melia. Melia White is nearly the exact opposite of Alicia. She had been given silvery white hair and brown eyes so dark they were almost black. This was only in looks, however. Alicia and Melia had been at odds with each other ever since Alicia was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin and then at full blown war once Alicia ran away summer before fifth year. Alicia, it could be said, was like the female Sirius Black in this respect. Alice, Diana, and I were _always _having to hold Alicia back from cursing her older sister and were also aiding her in protecting her _younger _sister, Cass, who was a sweet, kind, little Ravenclaw, and two years younger than Alicia.

Alicia never spoke of home, but from years of knowing Alicia, I could interpret that her mother had left the White siblings at a young age, and that Mr. White has an abusive alcoholic. I never dared approach Alicia with this though, because if any time her family, outside of Cass, was brought up in conversation they would get a dark sinister look making her resemblance to Melia startling. It was a taboo topic that should never be brought up unless asking to be hexed.

Alicia continued on, describing her summer, telling us how warm California is and how one day she would take us all with her on a trip there. It was a pleasant thought, but with the war going on I was sure that this trip wouldn't happen anytime soon. Alicia continued on talking about when she got back how she had met up with the Marauders (much to my silent discomfort) as she was close childhood friends with Sirius (they had an arranged marriage planned for after they finished Hogwarts before being disowned the two of them were disowned). Alicia finished her story with an "Oh! Almost forgot O.W.L.s, I got Outstandings in everything except History of Magic where I got an Acceptable, figures!"At this I remembered the classes she took were, obviously, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but also Potions, History of Magic, Herbology, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy.

Diana took over telling her summer after Alicia. Unlike our American friend though, she started off with her O.W.L results. Smiling happily, she said, "I got Outstanding in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions, with Exceeding Expectations in everything else, but an Acceptable in History of Magic!" Diana, I knew, had taken all of the subjects she mentioned, but also Astronomy, Transfiguration, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. How she got an E in Divination, I will never know. She moved on to her summer, talking about how she had found a really old bookstore that she had practically lived in because it held so many old fashioned books filled with old forgotten spells that had written down in order to practice later. I found this whole story very amusing as it was very typical of her to be studying over the summer. Diana was ever looking for new spells and ideas.

Alice went next stating proudly that she had gotten Outstandings in everything but Astronomy and Muggle Studies, where she got an E and an A. I put the A in Muggle Studies down to her forgetfulness. Poor Alice had been coming to me to help her with Muggle Studies homework for two years. How she had managed to remember things for our seven other core classes plus her other elective, besides Muggle studies, which had been Care of Magical Creatures, I will never know. Her summer had been very exciting as she stated Frank Longbottom had written her over the summer to ask her out and they had been going steady ever since. I was really very happy for her as I knew she had been pining over the older boy for most of our time at Hogwarts.

"That's great Alice!" I said smiling at her face which seemed to shine even brighter than usual. If that was even possible.

"Thanks Lily. What did you do for the summer?" Alice asked her head turned to the side in curiosity. As soon as she asked the question I sighed.

"Not much to be honest. With the war going on, it's safest for me to just remain in my muggle neighborhood. I know that sounds strange because of all the attacks on the muggles going on, but I like being around to protect my family. Plus I'm less likely to be picked out as a muggle born than if I was living in a wizarding village." I said this very bluntly, because to be quite honest, it is what it is. I can't change my birth so I might as well accept it, besides it _is _a relief to be there to protect my family. It scares the crap out of me being so far away and unable to protect them.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lily." Diana said sympathetically while the other two girls nodded. Both Alicia and Alice were purebloods and didn't have _too _much to worry about as long as they kept their nose clean, Diana is a half blood because of her muggle born father. I know she's worrying about her family just as much as I am, but at least they have wands.

"It's alright. Oh! I did get fitted for a bridesmaid's dress over the summer." I said changing the subject and I went on to tell of how Petunia was getting married to her boyfriend, Vernon Dursley, whom I had told them about when they first started dating. Really, I hated being in the same room with the two. They were so obnoxious about how normal they were like it was a thing to be proud of.

"How did your mom manage to convince Petunia to have you as a bridesmaid?" Alicia wondered and I smiled at her usage of the word "mom" when I was so used to "mum". I never seemed to lose appreciate for her accent.

"I have no idea, honestly, but I do know that my parents are the only reason I'm even _invited _to the wedding." The words saddened me, but they were true. Petunia and I hadn't been on good terms since she called me a freak before I got onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Oh and I got all Outstandings on my O.W.L.s." I had to admit that I said this very smugly, but I was very proud of it after all.

"Wow that's great Lily!" Alice said smiling greatly and I nodded, smiling myself, but silence settled back in quickly

"How's Cass?" I asked finally after a long moment of silence and Alicia seemed to visibly falter in a way I've never seen.

"She won't talk to me anymore. I've tried writing to her to ask if she wants me come get her once I've found my own place, but she won't answer. I think she's angry I left her alone in that house." As Alicia spoke her voice went from sulky, to worried, to frustrated and I automatically knew not to go farther in the conversation.

"Okay, can we please get to real issue at hand?" Alice said suddenly and we all looked at her, dread seeping into my stomach. I knew where this was going.

"And that would be, Birdy?" Diana piped up, using our nickname for Alice.

"Boys, my darling Kat." Alice exclaimed emphasizing Diana's nickname to acknowledge the use of her own and all of us forced a smile. Despite what everyone seems to thing. Not all girls like boys as their topic of discussion, but Alice, being the girliest of all of us, brought it up often, stubbornly trying to bring the rest of us into her world of pink and unicorns. This was why, when the topic of the opposite gender rose up we all either made something up or held on for dear life until it was over and Alice was happy while the rest of us were red faced.

"Aw come one Alice. Not all of us are as boy crazy as you! And you already talked about Frank when discussing your summer!" Alicia groaned, but I already knew it was no use, besides Alicia really wasn't one to talk about boy craziness.

"You can't talk Alicia. You've snogged nearly ever guy at Hogwarts whose within a two years of your age." Alice argued and all of us laughed while Alicia rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, but she didn't retort.

"Besides, we all know you like Sirius." I told her and suddenly Alicia sat bolt of up right and gasped.

"I do not!" this had to be the most dynamic response Alicia has ever given during this topic of discussion. It actually threw me for a loop for a moment.

"Well I guess there is proof enough by your response Vix." Diana grinned with Alice and I while Alicia finally sat back, pouting. No blush though. This did not surprise me, Alicia doesn't blush unless she's faking it.

"Does he know?" I prodded easing my way into the discussion and Alicia scowled at me.

"Of course not. Imagine how weird that would be! We've known each other since we were eight and I'm like a sister to James who is like a brother to Sirius. Wouldn't that make us related on the imaginary tree we have going?" Alicia said and I couldn't help but laugh at the end of her speech.

"Well not if you say you're like an in law to James through Sirius." Diana smirked and Alicia just stared at her before she finally found something to say.

"Well it doesn't matter either way, because I wouldn't tell him even if I knew for a fact he felt the same way. It's up for the guy to make a move. Not the girl." she said with a note of finality telling us all not to pursue the topic, which we really wouldn't anyway seeing as there was no argument for what she said.

Silence followed and none of us even tried to break it. Alice drifted off to sleep after a while, Diana began shuffling through her notes, editing them when necessary, and Alicia just stared out the window, watching the sun as it began to go down. I, myself go out a book and read for a half hour before I set the book down and just sat thinking. For the first time when Alice brought up boys it hadn't been about James asking me out all the time. I suspected they didn't want to anger me after everything that happened last year, but now, I can muster up the same fury I always had been thinking of James Potter.

He was a bully. That I was still positive about, but maybe not to everyone. Just Severus. Thinking about my old friend made me both said and angry. It was his fault the friendship was over, calling me a mudblood..If he had been any kind of friend at all, he never would have said something like that to me. He had been drifting farther and farther into the study of Dark Arts anyway, so I suppose I would have broken the friendship off because of this anyway. Dark Arts...

This thought brought me inexplicably back to James Potter. He hated the Dark Arts and everyone in it, that was something I never once doubted. So maybe I was wrong in saying he wasn't any better than those who practice it. Anything was better than the Dark Arts and Voldemort. Besides, he _is _close to Alicia and he even gets along with Diana and Alice. That had to mean something didn't it? Maybe I had judged him wrongly before.

"Time to change." Diana spoke suddenly and we all got up without saying a word.

We all changed into out Hogwarts robes in a comfortable silence, all of us still absorbed in our own thoughts. The quiet was only broken when I noticed something wrapped around Alicia's right forearm.

I stared at the black band that stopped an inch before elbow and came over half of her right hand so that a her thumb came through a whole in it. On the band was three little stitches and within them was her wand. The wand was secure in the band, but not irremovable, and the tip came up high enough so that if Alicia pushed her index and middle finger down slightly and closed them together she could pull it up and out of the little stitches and into her hand in milliseconds. It was also be out of sight unless she wore a short sleeved shirt with no cloak. It was genius!

"Alicia? Where did you get that arm band?" I asked curious and eager to get myself one. Alicia blinked and looked down at her right arm, pulling the wand into her hand just as I had imagined before pushing it back into its original spot.

"This? I made it." she shrugged and all three of us gaped at her.

"You made it?" I gasped in astonishment causing Alicia to roll her eyes.

"Well if you're that surprised maybe I won't give you three the ones I made you." she said this, but at the same time she was throwing us each identical bands which we put on immediately before putting our wands in to it.

"You might need to practice pulling your wands out a bit, but I suspect it will be dead useful if we ever need to pull our wands out a split second before our opponent. " Alicia demonstrated how fast she could pull her wand out for the three of us and I was amazed by the speed of it. Alicia had always been quick to pull out her wand in a duel, so fast her hand would blur, but now it seemed as if her wand just appeared in her hand.

I looked down at my wand sitting in the stitching of the band on my arm and pulled it out. It came out smoothly and I smiled before putting it back and trying again. Too quick I almost dropped it; I put it back and tried again. I kept going like this til I was able to pull it out as quickly as Alicia and it kept my mind so preoccupied I barely noticed when the train had stopped.

We had arrived at Hogwarts.

**So thanks for reading the first chapter of my new story In War and In Love. I hope you liked it. Please review and stay tuned for when the next chapter comes up. I have very irregular writing times, so this means it can either be hours, days, or weeks for me to put up a new chapter, but it always gets posted eventually. Have a nice day!**


	2. Introduction: James

**Okay so this starts out pretty much the same as last chapter only with the Marauders.**

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, I do not.**

***James***

My parents had dropped Sirius and I off early at the Platform in order to avoid the crowd. Despite being incredibly tired, neither of us were complaining. I was sure Sirius was eager to get on the train and avoid a chance meeting (or duel) with his family. As for me, I wanted to see the other half of the marauders, both who get here around this time. I would never fully relax until I was sure that both of them were safe. They were family to me as if born into my family and not just my adopted Hogwarts family. True I had seen both Remus and Peter a few weeks ago, but with this war...

"Alright Prongs?" Sirius's voice called me back and I grinned at him to assure him of the sanity even I was unsure of.

"Course I am. How bout you Padfoot?" I asked and he grinned back at me easily while he hopped onto the train pulling his trunk up with him before lifting up Mercury, my owl, so that I could get my trunk up before hopping onto the Hogwarts Express as well.

We continued walking towards the back of the train where we would sit in our usual compartment. Both of us were already dressed in our robes and they seemed to whisper with every move we made mixing with the sound of our footsteps echoing inside the unusually quiet train. It was unnerving. Sirius glanced back and caught my eye and I knew that he was thinking the same thing I was, but neither of us commented or tried to break the deafening silence. Despite the quiet, there _were _people after all, and they would be able to hear anything we said while walking through the corridor. This was not a pleasant thought.

Eventually, we reached the last compartment on the Hogwarts Express and I was pleased to see Remus and Peter already sitting there waiting for us. Though I was not as pleased by their appearance. Remus was looking extremely tired and very shabby with a good three lined cut on his cheek. The full moon must have been last night. I frowned deeply, but didn't say anything, because I knew he liked avoiding the topic of his "furry little problem" as much as possible. Peter didn't look good either with a swollen, purple eye and a cut lip that looked like it could have come from this morning. It made me angry.

"Bloody hell Peter! What happened?" Sirius shouted after slamming and locking our compartment door and casting a silencing spell around us.

"Doesn't matter." he murmured and Sirius and I made eye contact.

"Was it the Slytherins?" I asked and he shook his head before nodding.

"Sort of." he said in an uncomfortable tone that I didn't understand.

"Sort of." I repeated airily, but I didn't comment farther, only took out my wand and began healing his eye as best I could. I was no Madam Pomphry after all, which was why I didn't bother trying to help Remus' cut. I could do nothing for it. After the swelling in Peter's eye had gone down a bit I sat myself down and sighed.

"Thanks Prongs." Peter mumbled and I smiled at him before sitting back and closing my eyes for a moment. There was silence in our compartment for a long time, but it didn't bother me.

Who would think that the four famous Marauders of Hogwarts could sit in silence for this long? People really didn't have a good read on us at all. Sure we enjoyed mischief making and loud noise, but that didn't mean we were completely hopeless. We _did _get all of our homework done after all and completed our O.W.L.s with flying colors. Now if only Lily Evans could see that... Lily Evans. I attempted to wipe my thoughts of her automatically.

I had destroyed any chance (if I ever had any) last year after finishing my last O.W.L. it wouldn't be worth it to even attempt chasing after her for a while. He remembered her words from last year, _"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK." _What do you see Lily? What do you see about me that makes you so angry? I sit up straighter in my seat suddenly with my thoughts racing ahead of me along with my frustration.

You're right, I do think I look cool with messed up hair, but is that so wrong? Isn't that like yelling at a girl who likes curling or straightening her hair? Hexing people who annoy me. Right and how many times have you shot a curse at me for annoying you Lily? As for the Snitch. Well, I obviously like playing with it. Do you read your books to show off how smart you are or do you read them because you enjoy it?

She was just so frustratingly hypocritical. She never listens to anything besides the sound of her own voice and opinions. When someone disagrees with her, well they're wrong, because Merlin forbid that Lily Evans, the brightest witch of her age, be wrong. Yet she had the gall to call me arrogant. She chose to see bad things about me. Where most would see confidence she sees arrogance. Where many would see self respect Lily sees self entitlement.

The more I think about this, the angrier I become with Ms. I'm Never Wrong. She only sees what she wants to see and nothing else at all. Stubbornness, most would call it, do you know what I think that is? Arrogance! She thinks I'm arrogant! What a bloody hypocrite she is. All because she gets good grades and makes friends with Slytherins all of a sudden she thinks she's a Saint! Well she's not a Saint, no, shes an arrogant, self entitled, hypocritical phoney!

"Alright there Prongs? You're looking a little..." Remus trailed off.

"Homicidal." Sirius finished for him. I looked up at two of my best friends and smiled, my whole body relaxing after being pushed out of such angry thoughts.

"Right, sorry. Just thinking about Evans." I told them, leaning back in my chair. Both of their eyebrows rose.

"You were thinking about Lily? That's not the usual face you get when thinking about her?" Remus said this with a questioning tone.

"Moony's right. Usually you look all love struck and ready to-" I cut Sirius off, blood flooding into my face.

"Shut up Padfoot." I yelled and they all laughed while I sat fuming.

"Like your one to talk." I said finally and Sirius leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and spreading his arms in a 'try me' manner.

"You don't have anything on me!" he told me, eyebrows raised, daring me to come up with something girl related that would embarrass me. Jokes on him this time.

"Alicia White!" I replied easily leaning back in my chair enjoying the look on my best mates face. It started at white faced shock and quickly turned to red faced embarrassment.

"He's got you there Padfoot." Peter chuckled while Remus and I roared with laughter. If Peter called you out for something it meant whatever had been said was quite obvious.

"Shut up Wormtail." Sirius growled still red in the face and fuming.

"Paybacks a bitch." I told him still grinning in triumph and he glowered at me

"Yeah well, so is karma." he replied hotly, but I just shook my head at him.

"Anyway if you like her you should ask her out. You've never had a problem with girls before." Remus reminded him and I nodded. The world would actually probably be a better place if Sirius _did _have a problem with girls.

"Yeah well, no girls like Alicia. You gents know that, besides I've known her since I was eight. Plus she kissed both you and Remus, my best mates, isn't that weird?" Sirius said leaning back again and I shrugged.

"Not really, the only reason we kissed was because of a dare and kissing my own nonexistent sister would have been weirder with how close we are." I shuddered, emphasizing my words. I had only known Alicia since first year, unlike Sirius who had known her three years prior to entering Hogwarts, but she was just like a sister to me.

"And Alicia kissed Remus after finding out he hadn't kissed anyone in Truth or Dare." I went on.

"Without my consent, I might add." Remus added, but Sirius waved us off.

"Right, well I've still known her since I was eight, and you all have only known her since first year and still think of her as a sister." Sirius argued and I rolled my eyes.

"But you don't think of her as a sister and besides isn't falling in love with your best girl friend a typical love story?" I said and Sirius stared at me.

"Wow Prongs, I almost forgot how much of a girl you actually are." Laughter broke out into our compartment, my own laughter included.

"Natural romantic I guess." I laughed and Sirius snorted.

"Right, okay James." he replied and we all laughed again before falling into another silence. I stared out the window and enjoyed the look of the country side. It was all a blur of greens and blues, but it was still pleasant to look at. Maybe even a little psychedelic.

"What did you all get on your O. ?" Peter asked after a moment and I turned my attention back to the group.

"Got an O in everything, but History of Magic, got an E there." I shared, the E in History of Magic wasn't particularly a disappointment as I knew it wouldn't matter when I became an Auror. There was no loss.

"Same as Prongs." Sirius said and Remus nodded before adding,

"Pretty much the same, except an E Potions instead of History of Magic." I snorted at this, but not in a particularly mean way. Remus had been melting cauldrons since first year.

"Oh." Peter mumbled and we all stared at him as he went red in the face.

"Oh come on Wormtail, it couldn't have been that bad." Sirius said bracingly and Remus and I nodded.

"Yeah, Peter, tell us what you got." I cajoled and finally Peter relented.

"E in Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, DADA and Herbology, an A in Potions, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, and a P in History of Magic." Peter finally squeaked out and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on Peter, that's actually really good!" I said and it was true compared to how some might have done.

"You did extremely well." Remus agreed with me.

"Yeah Peter! Think of all the Slytherins you beat out!" Sirius smirked and eventually we got a smile out of the mouse like guy.

"Thanks." Peter laughed. I nodded approvingly at him before looking back out the window. It was getting dark.

"Better change." I murmured, standing up, and they all nodded before doing the same.

* * *

It wasn't raining when we arrived at Hogwarts which was definitely a nice change. It was a clear night with stars shining brightly in the distance. I couldn't see the moon, but this didn't bother me and I was positive it didn't bother Remus in the slightest. We all walked towards the carriages and into the crowd of people waiting like the rest of us. Within the crowd I could spot a group of four girls and I elbowed the Marauders before calling out to them.

"Oi! Alice! Alicia! Diana!" I didn't call out to Lily because I figured she'd ignore me either way, but this way she'd have to come along with her friends.

Automatically all four heads whipped around and I waved, grinning. Alice, Diana, and surprisingly Lily smiled albeit more awkward than the first two, but it was still a smile and Alicia was already running over here. When she reached us Alicia gave each of us a different hug. First Peter who she had crouch slightly to hug, than Remus who picked her up once in a tight squeeze before setting her back down, than me. I picked Alicia up in a bear hug, swinging her around a couple times before setting her back down, leaving her dizzy. She laughed and stumbled into Sirius where she put her arm around his neck to steady herself and he picked up her legs so he held her bridal style causing her to squeal in surprise.

"Bonjour! J'ai raté les gars!" Alicia spoke in french and I looked at Sirius, the only one of us Marauders who actually knew the language.

"She said she missed us." Sirius told me and I nodded before grinning at Alicia who was still being carried around by Sirius.

"What? Not going to say hello to us?" Diana's voice broke in as Alice, Lily, and herself finally made caught up with Alicia.

"Sorry girls, you just aren't as important as me." Alicia said with a smirk slipping back into English with her blunt American accent. Alice rolled her eyes, but smiled at all of us anyway.

"Hello James, Peter, Remus, Sirius." Alice said and we all grinned at her.

"Sharing a carriage with us?" Sirius asked the girls, but Lily interrupted.

"Actually the carriages all left." she said and we all turned to see that she was right. The last carriage was already a ways gone and we had no means of catching it. Typical.

"How is it," I began staring after the last carriage, "that one moment there is a crowd waiting for the carriages and the next everyone is suddenly gone with all of the carriages?" Everyone shook their heads in unfortunate wonderment. It really was a valid question, but I guess that didn't apply when it came to magic. I've grown up around magic my whole life and yet I was still learning lessons like these. Guess you don't always have to love magic.

"Looks like you all are walking." Alicia said after we all took in this predicament. We all turned to stare at her in disbelief.

"What do you mean 'you all'? You have to walk like the rest of us!" Lily said gaping at her best friend who giggled at everyone's looks.

"Nope. I'm going to be carried." As she said this she tapped Sirius's cheek causing his facial expression to go from disbelief to outrage.

"If you think I'm going to carry you all the way to the castle than you're mad." he told her.

"Oh come on, it's not like you can't. You'll have to get used to doing insane tasks anyway with James as the new Quidditch Captain." Alicia argued before winking at me and I grinned.

"Almost forgot about that. Than Alicia, you will need to get used to more than just walking, seeing as you're on the team." I said triumphantly as Alicia pouted and hopped out of Sirius's arms whose went straight to his sides almost limply, though I doubted this was from how heavy Alicia was. As she was lighter than a feather.

Without another word we all set off towards the castle. For the most part during this walk we would stay at a slow bordering on moseying, but occasionally along the walk one of our stomachs would growl and every time it did our pace would pick up before slowly falling back into our original lazy trod.

We didn't walk in a group, so much as we all walked in random clumps. I walked in the very back of everyone and watched them all, noticing different quarks in their personalities that I didn't usually pay attention to. Alice and Diana were talking animatedly with Remus, who didn't say much, but would laugh occasionally. Alice was a very happy person. Anyone who knew Alice would say that she was the most animated, silly, loving person that you could ever possibly meet. What I noticed though, while watching her talk was that she would occasionally scrunch her eyebrows together or drop the corners of her lips. This was obviously a sign of unhappiness, but it seemed strange. Alice never complained about anything.

"Are you alright Alice?" I called out and said girl turned to look at me before smiling extremely bright, but not fake.

"Just starving." she laughed and I could tell that it was genuine. She was just hungry, that was all.

My eyes moved next to Diana who was generally quiet and watched as she smiled lightly at little things Alice or Remus said before adding something to the conversation herself. She also seemed to be watching them. When Alice would speak, Diana's eyes automatically moved to her and took in every detail before her gaze would turn to Remus when he spoke. It was like she was studying each of them. I didn't know much about Diana, but I could tell from watching this that when she spoke to you or was listening to you, you had her whole attention. This was a rare trait for most people to have and I was sure that if I asked her to tell me what the three of them had been talking about she could recite the whole conversation perfectly. She must get great grades.

Next, I shifted my gaze to a different group. Lily, I could tell, was struggling to make small talk with shy little Peter who seemed unsure of what to say. I chuckled to myself as I watched this. Peter was one of my best friends and I loved him like a brother, but he had no idea how to talk to girls. He would just stare at them like they were speaking another language before nodding or looking away. He didn't even have to find them attractive, he just couldn't talk to them. This was obviously frustration for Lily. She had her dark eyebrows scrunched together as she struggled in this one sided conversation, but politeness seemed to keep her talking. As I was watching I noticed she kept flicking her right wrist out and every time she did her wand would appear in her hand before she'd flick it again and it was gone. She was practicing grabbing her wand! I laughed again at this, because even when talking to a friend and walking she was doing her homework. It was cute.

After watching Lily a little while longer I finally turned to look at the final pair. Alicia and Sirius were easily both the most animated and the calmest at the same time. Sometimes Alicia would bouncing around a lot, smiling, and pushing Sirius around with a laugh. Sirius would retaliate by pushing her back at which she would grab his hand and twirl around like they were dancing in order to avoid tripping. Than a few seconds later they would be calm and my little sister figure would just look up at the sky and point even though Sirius was watching her and not the stars. It was different. Usually those two were loud and flirtatious, but over in their corner they were quiet, speaking and laughing only to each other. It was a sight to see from the two biggest players in Hogwarts. When Alicia turned to say something to Sirius, I could tell her peripheral vision caught sight of me as she turned and smiled.

"You're unusually quiet Jamie." she said, loud enough for me to hear, meaning loud enough for everyone to hear. They all turned to look at me curiously and I grinned at all of them.

"Well seeing as there is no one to talk to!" I said laughing and everyone chuckled sounding some what abashed. Then, almost unconsciously, we all moved closer together into a group. We remained that way, talking and laughing, until we finally reached the castle. All of us broke into a sprint so that would get into the Great Hall and slid into the giant room causing everyone to turn and look at us and Professor McGonagall quite literally seemed to appear out of thin air before us.

"Term hasn't even started and you are all late." Professor McGonagall said looking stern, but before anything else could be said Lily spoke up.

"That means you don't need to take points or give us detention right? Since term hasn't started yet?" Lily asked anxiously and all of us turned to our Transfiguration teacher all smiling hopefully until she finally broke down and smiled.

"Well all right, but only because you all did so well in my class." she said finally and I actually hugged her before tearing off towards the Gryffindor table along with the other seven, all thinking the same multiple things. First: food! Second: We were home.


End file.
